Asia Pacific Censorship News

Born to Fly is a 2022 China action drama by Liu Xiaoshi
Starring Yibo Wang, Jun Hu and Yosh Yu

The story of a special operations team headed by elite pilots , being ordered to test new fighter jets. Test flight after test flight, they continue to challenge the sky and the limits of themselves.

With hot young Chinese test pilots and heart-stopping aerial acrobatics, Born to Fly was supposed to be China's answer to Top Gun: Maverick. The wildly anticipated action flick stars Wang Yibo, a pop star turned actor (think China's Harry Styles), and was written and directed by Liu Xiaoshi, who cut his teeth making popular promotional videos for the Chinese military. Produced in full cooperation with the People's Liberation Army Air Force -- much as Maverick was with the U.S. Navy 204 the film showcases China's most advanced stealth fighter jet, the J-20.

So, when Born to Fly was officially scheduled for release on Sept. 30, the day before China's National Day holiday, many analysts were bullish on the tentpole's prospects to become China's next proudly nationalistic military blockbuster.

But Born to Fly was mysteriously grounded just days before its planned opening. The film's producers, including major studios Alibaba Pictures and Bona Film Group, put out a vague statement saying that the release would be postponed in order to present better production effects. No further details were provided and no update has been given.

Chinese authorities never comment directly on censorship decisions, but the word within the Beijing film industry is that Born to Fly's producers were made to realize that their movie's stunts and visual effects were far inferior to Top Gun: Maverick's and that the Chinese version risked ridicule in comparison -- all of which would have been most unwelcome, even politically dangerous, given that the two films are, in part, propagandistic displays of the United States' and China's military strengths.

A Canadian Senate committee amending the Liberal government's controversial Bill C-11 has added the requirement for online platforms to verify the age/identity of users accessing pornography, a move internet law experts say is likely unconstitutional.

Sen. Julie Miville-Dechene proposed the amendment, stating that online undertakings shall implement methods such as age-verification methods to prevent children from accessing programs on the internet that are devoted to depicting, for a sexual purpose, explicit sexual activity.

The committee passed the amendment, with seven senators voting in favour, five opposing it and two abstaining.

The amended version of the legislation must be approved by the full Senate and then go back to the House of Commons before it becomes law. #

It if does pass into law, it would be up to the CRTC to decide how to implement the age verification requirement.

China has banned all celebrities from endorsing a range of products and banned those with 'lapsed morals' from endorsing anything.

The regulations, announced by state censors this week, bar Chinese celebrities from publicly endorsing or advertising health, education and financial commodities, including e-cigarettes and baby formula. The new regulations read:

Celebrities should consciously practice socialist core values in their advertising endorsement activities, and endorsement activities should conform to social morals and traditional virtues.

The rules also banned companies from hiring celebrities found to have lapsed morals or engaged in illegal behavior including tax evasion, drunkenness, drug addiction and fraud, and from using images of Communist party leaders, revolutionary leaders and heroes in their advertising.

The Callisto Protocol is a 2022 single player horror survival game by Striking Distance Studios

The game has now been banned in Japan after it was refused a CERO rating. The developers have decided not to pursue local edits to tryan achieve a rating. String Distance Studios said via its Japanese Twitter account that the localized version for Japan will be discontinued and that anyone who pre-ordered will get a refund, adding:

We have determined that the game cannot pass the CERO rating in its current state and that changing the content will not provide the experience that players expect.

The reason for refusing the rating have not been reported but it is assume that the refusal was down to the game's violence and gore

#LookAtMe is a 2022 Singapore gay themed drama by Ken Kwek
Starring Yao, Yao and Pam Oei

A Youtuber posts an irreverent video trolling a megachurch pastor, in defence of his gay twin brother. He is vilified by society, tried in court, and pitted against a culture that threatens to destroy his family.

Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has retained banned film #LookAtMe in its official selection, despite the fact it cannot be screened in the country.

Directed by Singapore filmmaker Ken Kwek, the film was handed a local exhibition ban last week on the grounds that it supposedly denigrates a religious community and has the potential to cause enmity and social division in Singapore's multi-racial and multi-cultural society, according to a joint statement by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY).

Produced by Eko Pictures, the feature received its world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) in July where it proved one of the buzz titles of the event and received a special mention for the performance of Malaysian-born, US-based actor Yao (aka Thomas Pang) who plays the dual role of twin brothers.

The film's production team had previously planned to submit an appeal in a bid to overturn the ban. But after learning more about the IMDA appeals process, which includes a $355 (S$500) fee, they chose not to challenge the decision.

The film's festival run continues and it is scheduled to screen at upcoming festivals in the US, Australia and Thailand.

According to Vietnam online publication VnExpress, Vietnam's Department of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information removed the Korean series Little Women from Netflix in Vietnam claiming that it presented misleading information about Vietnam and the Vietnam War.All 12 episodes will not shown in Vietnam.

Studio Dragon which produced Little Women said that it will pay greater attention to foreign cultures and history.

The series mentions Vietnam when the lead character explains about a mysterious orchid, known as the Ghost of Vietnam. Little Women also presents a story about a Korean soldier, who took part in a secret operation during the Vietnam War in 1967, killing 100 Viet Cong on his mission.